BJPA Blog - israel advocacyhttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm
A blog by the Berman Jewish Policy Archive @ NYU Wagneren-usSun, 02 Aug 2015 18:27:31 -0400Tue, 05 Jun 2012 15:49:00 -0400BlogCFChttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssbjpa.wagner@nyu.edubjpa.wagner@nyu.edubjpa.wagner@nyu.edunoSilencing, Censoring, Hosting, Choosinghttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/6/5/Silencing-Censoring-Hosting-Choosing
<p><img width="300" border="0" align="middle" height="261" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/censored.png" alt="censored" /></p>
<p>An opinion piece by J.J. Goldberg appears in the Forward under the headline, <a href="http://forward.com/articles/157128/silencing-of-the-liberal-american-jew/"><em>Silencing of the Liberal American Jew</em></a>. Reacting to a synagogue's cancellation of a speech by Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Goldberg writes, among other things:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>Determined campaigns by noisy minorities or threats by a handful of major donors regularly <strong>silence </strong>voices deemed controversial...<br />
</em></p>
<p><em>The disinviting of Wasserman Schultz takes <strong>the stifling of free discourse</strong> into a new and alarming realm...<br />
</em></p>
<p><em>[Jews] have long been an important voice for justice. It&rsquo;s a pity that they let their voice be <strong>hijacked, diverted or cut off </strong>from allies by an unrepresentative minority.</em></p>
[Emphasis is mine.]</blockquote>
<p>A few weeks ago, when <a href="http://forward.com/articles/156915/y-scraps-pro-boycott-jewish-groups-event/">the 14th St Y canceled a Jewish youth group's planned event</a> to discuss a partial boycott of Israel, a leader of the group said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p><em>&ldquo;This is consistent with other issues we have seen in Jewish institutional spaces, when Jews who have tried to express opinions that are not of the status quo about Israel are <strong>censored</strong>&quot;. </em>(Emphasis is mine.)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There are two questions here which must remain separate: first, how broad is the discourse that the Jewish community chooses to host, encourage, and/or facilitate? And, second, is failing to host, encourage, and facilitate a discussion the same thing as censoring it?</p>
<p>It seems to me that broader discourse is usually good. Politics matter and carry both moral and religious weight, so both liberal and conservative voices should be heard in our shuls. The Jewish community includes a large spectrum of opinion about Zionism, so a strong case can be made that Jewish communal institutions should welcome a broader spectrum of discourse about Israel than they currently do.</p>
<p>At the same time, I would ask all those who use these terms like <em>censorship, silencing, stifling, </em>etc.: is it really the case that choosing not to host, encourage or facilitate every kind of conversation is censorship? Isn't it within any institution's right to choose its own boundaries and norms? Is it really the case that the membership of an institution is being somehow denied the chance to take part in the discussion, when any member can, at any time they wish, join or attend another institution at which the discussion does take place? Did the 14th St Y somehow lock Young, Jewish and Proud out of the city of New York entirely, preventing them from holding an event at any other venue? Did they lock the doors of anyone's radio station or smash anyone's printing press? Is Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of the United States Congress now suddenly lost in the wilderness, bereft of microphones, now that the mighty Temple Israel of Miami has slammed its doors to her humble plea to speak her mind?</p>
<p>We're not talking about anyone facing any actual sanction, danger, penalty, or obstacle for voicing an opinion -- we're talking about institutions making choices about whom they will give a platform for voicing which opinions. Those choices are important, and they merit a real debate, one from which I certainly would not ask Mr. Goldberg, nor Jewish Voices for Peace and its youth affiliate, to back down. I would only ask: isn't it possible to make a strong argument for broadening the discourse within Jewish communal institutions without resorting to spurious (and therefore counterproductive) accusations of censorship?</p>
<p>(Browse BJPA for <a href="http://bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?Topic=Discourse-and-Dialogue&amp;TopicID=156&amp;SortBy=PublicationYear&amp;SortDir=DESC">Discourse and Dialogue</a>.)</p>
<p>UPDATE (June 25, 2012): <a href="http://forward.com/articles/158381/anti-islamic-activist-blocked-from-la-speech/">Right-wingers can play this game too.</a></p>
israel advocacyisraelnonprofitspoliticsdiscoursecommunity centersdialogueanti israel sentimentTue, 05 Jun 2012 15:49:00 -0400http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/6/5/Silencing-Censoring-Hosting-ChoosingProphets and Protectorshttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/2/2/Prophets-and-Protectors
<p><a href="http://www.iengage.org.il/iE_Team_View.asp?Article_Id=93&amp;Cat_Id=3&amp;Cat_Type=ie_team"><strong><em>Posted at the Shalom Hartman Institute.</em></strong></a></p>
<p>The discourse about Israel &ndash; that conducted by those who see themselves as Israel&rsquo;s friends -- seems to come in either of two varieties.</p>
<p>One variety of Israel-related discourse focuses on Israel&rsquo;s shortcomings, usually entailing mistreatment of one or another group &ndash; women, immigrant workers, Reform Jews, Conservative Jews, and, most prominently, Palestinians, both those who live within the Green Line (once known as, &ldquo;Israeli Arabs&rdquo;) and those who live in Gaza or the West Bank (the &ldquo;real&rdquo; Palestinians).</p>
<p>The other variety of discourses focuses on Israel&rsquo;s moral virtues in the context of its struggle for peace and security. This variety emphasizes Israel&rsquo;s claims to democracy, progressive social values, industriousness, ingenuity, sensitivity and respect for human rights in the midst of a protracted, existential struggle. Often, in this discourse, Israel is compared with other Western democracies, the Palestinians, and the Arab or Muslim worlds.</p>
<p>Why do these two types of discourse -- both conducted by Israelis, Zionists, pro-Israel Jews and their non-Jewish friends and allies &ndash; seem so dissonant, so disconcerting, and so mutually distasteful?</p>
<p>I&rsquo;m reminded that I am not the first to take note of the disparate discourse on Israel. Almost 30 years ago, in September of 1982, during a temporary lull in the (first) War in Lebanon, and just before the massacres at Sabra and Shatila, Leonard (&ldquo;Leibel&rdquo;) Fein wrote these words in Moment:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There are two kinds of Jews in the world.</p>
<p>There is the kind of Jew who detests war and violence, who believes that fighting is not &lsquo;the Jewish way;&rsquo; who willingly accepts that Jews have their own and higher standards of behavior.&nbsp; And not just that we have them, but that those standards are our lifeblood, and what we are about.</p>
<p>And there is the kind of Jew who thinks we have been passive long enough, who is convinced that it is time for us to strike back at our enemies, to reject once and for all the role of victim, who willingly accepts that Jews cannot afford to depend on favors, that we must be tough and strong.</p>
<p>And the trouble is, most of us are both kinds of Jew.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Although Leibel later partially re-thought or re-canted (having developed doubts that most of us had both sorts of Jews within us), the distinctions are still resonant.</p>
<p>Thirty years later, these two kinds of Jews are alive and living, and they have been with us for some years, if not centuries. And the destiny of the Jewish nation has been at the heart of the contention between the two camps. One camp speaks with Judaism&rsquo;s prophetic voice; the other primarily acts out of protective concerns. Both draw upon a wellspring of Jewish moral values and both see themselves defending the interests of Israel and the Jewish People.</p>
<p>The historic (if fanciful) images of Yochanan ben Zakkai and Simon bar Kokhba come to mind. Faced with the Roman oppressor, the former counseled surrender in 68 CE; 70 years later, the latter led a rebellion that was crushed. (Truth be told, history has judged some Jewish Protectors far more kindly than bar Kokhba.)</p>
<p>Nearly two millennia later, Jewish Prophets and Israel&rsquo;s Protectors emerge once again, loosely associated respectively with Labor Zionists and Revisionist Zionists. In the last generation, we saw them denoted as, &ldquo;doves&rdquo; and &ldquo;hawks&rdquo; or, more broadly as the &ldquo;Peace camp&rdquo; and the &ldquo;National camp.&rdquo;</p>
<p>And today? The pro-Israel world is still divided between a more Prophetic and more Protective camp. Among the former, loosely speaking, we have: the New Israel Fund, J Street, Ha&rsquo;aretz, Jewish Democrats, and Israel educators who call for &ldquo;hugging and wrestling&rdquo; with Israel&rsquo;s complexities. Among the latter: ZOA, AIPAC, the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Republicans, and the Israel advocacy industry who see advancing Israel&rsquo;s cause in the public arena as a moral imperative.&nbsp; &nbsp;</p>
<p>The lines may be blurry, but the impulses are still present. The two camps feel thoroughly justified and deeply worried. And the more they raise their voices, the more the other side feels vulnerable, if not defeated. Protectors see Prophets as doing grave harm to Israel&rsquo;s image and security: Who needs Israel&rsquo;s friends &ndash; let alone its enemies &ndash; reading stories alleging sexism, religious intolerance, human rights abuses, fascist tendencies and racist motives?</p>
<p>For their part, Prophets see Protectors undermining Israel&rsquo;s security as well. They ask, how are Israelis ever to confront the hard and fateful decisions to make risky concessions for peace (or at least more security), if they are told that 1) all is right with them and their leaders, &nbsp;2) that the world is uncaring to unsympathetic, and that 3) the other side is inherently hostile, untrustworthy and fanatical? And, in the interim, how does the Protectors&rsquo; discourse reeking with self-righteousness motivate&nbsp; Israelis to avoid committing the most egregious abuses in several spheres &ndash; and in particular in conducting the Occupation &ndash; abuses, that are wrong morally, and harmful politically?</p>
<p>Reconciling Prophets with Protectors is not in the cards. But perhaps each can begin to see the value of the other &ndash; or even draw upon the sensitivities and world views that each bring to the pro-Israel discourse.</p>
<p><iframe height="360" frameborder="0" width="640" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jJUtFWWdQDc" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
israel advocacyisraelisrael attachmentpoliticsdiscoursepluralismvideozionismThu, 02 Feb 2012 08:55:00 -0400http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2012/2/2/Prophets-and-ProtectorsPodcast: Jewish Values, Jewish Interestshttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/12/12/Podcast-Jewish-Values-Jewish-Interests
<p><img border="0" align="middle" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/JValues-Interests19ss.jpg" alt="Ruth Wisse" /></p>
<p>This was easily our most provocative event to date.</p>
<p>On Monday, December 5th, Prof. Ruth Wisse and Rabbi Joy Levitt joined BJPA Director Prof. Steven M. Cohen at the NYU Law School for a wide-ranging, passionate, broad discussion of how the Jewish community should relate to the outside world.</p>
<p>After a brief ceremony honoring Gail Chalew for her 20+ years as editor of the <a href="http://www.jcsana.org/articlenav.php?id=15">Journal of Jewish Communal Service</a> (the digitization of which <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?PublicationName=Journal%20of%20Jewish%20Communal%20Service">on BJPA</a> was the impetus for the event), Rabbi Levitt spoke of her decisions, as Executive Director of the JCC in Manhattan, to reach out to non-Jewish poor and minority communities, as well as the Muslim community leaders affiliated with the Cordoba Center / Park 51 &quot;Ground Zero mosque&quot; now known as <a href="http://www.prayerspacenyc.org/">Prayer Space</a>. Prof. Wisse spoke of Israel under attack and an American Jewish community lacking in moral confidence, and judging Judaism based on liberal standards instead of liberalism based on Jewish standards. Our fearless leader, Prof. Cohen, acted as moderator, but without setting aside his own positions on the issues.</p>
<p><a href="http://bjpa.org/audio/jewish-values-jewish-interests-podcast.mp3" target="_blank"><strong>Click here to listen.</strong></a></p>
studentsconservatismBlack-Jewish relationsdiscoursesocial justiceassimilationanti israel sentimentzionismcommunity relationsethicsArab-Israeli Relationsisrael advocacyjewish communal servicehistoryleadershipwarpluralismliberalismdialogueantisemitismintermarriageconflict resolutioncontinuitypoliticseventscommunal responsibilityidentityculturepodcastisraelIsraeli-Palestinian conflictcommunity centersaffiliationJewish-Islamic relationspolitical behaviorvaluesMon, 12 Dec 2011 13:30:00 -0400http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/12/12/Podcast-Jewish-Values-Jewish-InterestsThe Obama-Sarkozy "Gaffe" Proves Obama Strong For Israelhttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/11/8/The-ObamaSarkozy-Gaffe-Proves-Obama-Strong-For-Israel
<p><img border="0" align="middle" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/lapelmic.jpg" alt="Just assume the mic is on." /></p>
<p>The global media are all aflutter over two lines of <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/08/us-mideast-netanyahu-sarkozy-idUSTRE7A720120111108">an overheard dialogue </a>between Presidents Obama and Sarkozy.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&quot;I cannot bear Netanyahu, he's a liar,&quot; Sarkozy told Obama, unaware that the microphones in their meeting room had been switched on, enabling reporters in a separate location to listen in to a simultaneous translation. &quot;You're fed up with him, but I have to deal with him even more often than you,&quot; Obama replied, according to the French interpreter.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The lede in coverage has been, naturally, that Sarkozy called Bibi a liar, and that Obama sympathetically implied that Bibi is an enormous pain. Just as naturally, many Zionists see this gaffe as an embarassment, and many American Israel activists see the affair as a sign that President Obama is less supportive of Israel in private than he is in public. (Leftist Zionists may interpret the matter this way with much wringing of hands, and right-wingers the same way, but with purrs of contentment.)</p>
<p>But the real story isn't these two lines. The real story is how the subject came up in the first place, and how the subject came up demonstrates conclusively that President Obama is working behind the scenes to advance Israel's interests.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>During their bilateral meeting on November 3, on the sidelines of the Cannes summit, Obama criticized Sarkozy's surprise decision to vote in favor of a Palestinian request for membership of the U.N. cultural heritage agency UNESCO. &quot;I didn't appreciate your way of presenting things over the Palestinian membership of UNESCO. It weakened us. You should have consulted us, but that is now behind us,&quot; Obama was quoted as saying...</p>
<p>...Obama told Sarkozy that he was worried about the impact if Washington had to pull funding from other U.N. bodies such as the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the IAEA nuclear watchdog if the Palestinians gained membership there. &quot;You have to pass the message along to the Palestinians that they must stop this immediately,&quot; Obama said.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The full story, in other words, is this: Obama approaches Sarkozy to say, <em>you shouldn't have supported the PA UN membership bid. </em>Sarkozy responds, <em>But Bibi is a liar.</em> Obama counters: <em>I don't like him either, and </em>still <em>I'm telling you this statehood bid was a bad move.</em></p>
<p>Whether Obama's sympathetic response to Sarkozy's complaint was genuine or merely a sympathetic nod to build rapport hardly matters. In either case, our President's message was that, irrespective of the Israeli Prime Minister's personality, Israel's preferred course of negotiations rather than unilateral UN recognition of Palestinian statehood is correct.</p>
<p>In this light, Obama's personal disdain for Bibi strengthens, not weakens, his pro-Israel <em>bona fides</em>. First, it shows that Obama's analysis of the situation genuinely favors Israel's position, rather than being a concession to a friend. Second, since the President would never have said such a thing knowing a microphone was hot, it demonstrates that Obama's private views of this matter match his public pronouncements. To hear Republicans talk, you'd think an unguarded moment between these two leaders would sound something like: &quot;I wish I could have stood with you, Nicholas, but I need Jewish and Christian Zionist votes.&quot; Or, &quot;I'm glad you took that stand. I couldn't, but just for political reasons.&quot; Or, &quot;At last, my fellow mujahid, our plan to assert Shari'a law over all the world is coming to fruition.&quot;</p>
<p>Instead, what we heard was: <em>Bibi's a pain, but</em> &quot;You have to pass the message along to the Palestinians that they must stop this immediately.&quot; As an American Zionist who cares much more about Israel's geopolitical position than about Bibi Netanyahu's personal dignity, I certainly like what I hear.</p>
<p>It nearly need not be said that everyone (and not just politicians) would be wise to assume that every microphone they ever see is presently on and recording. It should be added that the wisest course of all is simply to assume that at every moment such a microphone is present, whether or not one is visible, but that may be asking too much of most people. In any case, when these gaffes appear, they are indeed revealing. Let us have care, however, to discern what is really being revealed.</p>
<p>[The obligatory caveat: BJPA is apolitical. This post represents my own analysis, not the organization.]</p>
diplomacyArab-Israeli Relationsisrael advocacyisraelpoliticsdiscourseIsraeli-Palestinian conflictdialoguezionismpolitical behaviorTue, 08 Nov 2011 12:44:00 -0400http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/11/8/The-ObamaSarkozy-Gaffe-Proves-Obama-Strong-For-IsraelDavid Elcott on Interfaith Mideast Peace Workhttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/10/17/Office-Hours-David-Elcott-on-Interfaith-Mideast-Peace-Work
<p><a href="http://wagner.nyu.edu/Elcott">Prof. David Elcott</a> discusses the decline of interfaith work on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. (Part of our <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/Office-Hours">Office Hours series.</a>)</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/gDQV5Lg7Ynw" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
Office Hoursjewish-christian relationsconflict resolutiondiscoursezionismanti israel sentimentoutreachcommunity relationsisrael advocacyclergyisraelleadershipIsraeli-Palestinian conflictpeacevideoreligiondialogueJewish-Islamic relationsMon, 17 Oct 2011 08:00:00 -0400http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/10/17/Office-Hours-David-Elcott-on-Interfaith-Mideast-Peace-WorkRogan Kersh on AIPAC and J Streethttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/8/12/Rogan-Kersh-on-AIPAC-and-J-Street
<p>Lobbying expert <a href="http://wagner.nyu.edu/kersh">Prof. Rogan Kersh</a> of <a href="http://wagner.nyu.edu/">NYU Wagner</a> examines <a href="http://www.aipac.org/">AIPAC</a>, <a href="http://jstreet.org/">J Street</a>, and Israel lobbying, in this installment of our Office Hours video series.</p>
<p><iframe height="349" frameborder="0" width="560" allowfullscreen="" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PtQSYONzXG0"></iframe></p>
community relationsdemocracyOffice Hoursisrael advocacyisraelpoliticsdiscoursevideozionismpolicypolitical behaviorgovernmentFri, 12 Aug 2011 09:20:00 -0400http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/8/12/Rogan-Kersh-on-AIPAC-and-J-StreetRogan Kersh: Israel Remarkably Relevant in American Politicshttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/8/11/Rogan-Kersh-Israel-Remarkably-Relevant-in-American-Politics
<p>In the second installment of our Office Hours series, <a href="http://wagner.nyu.edu/kersh">Prof. Rogan Kersh</a> of <a href="http://wagner.nyu.edu/">NYU Wagner</a> discusses the place of Israel in American politics.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><iframe width="560" height="349" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CI59tSgU3-Y"></iframe></p>
democracyOffice Hoursisrael advocacyjewish-christian relationsisraelpoliticsvideodiaspora relationszionismpolicypolitical behaviorgovernmentThu, 11 Aug 2011 08:55:00 -0400http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/8/11/Rogan-Kersh-Israel-Remarkably-Relevant-in-American-PoliticsHyman Bookbinder z"lhttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/7/25/Hyman-Bookbinder-zl
<p><img border="0" align="middle" alt="Bookie" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/bookie.jpg" /></p>
<p>Hyman Bookbinder, the Washington representative of the <a href="http://ajc.org">American Jewish Committee</a>, passed away last Thursday, as <a href="http://www.forward.com/articles/140227/">the Forward</a> and <a href="http://www.thejewishweek.com/blogs/political_insider/remembering_bookie">the Jewish Week</a> report. Bookbinder was also involved in founding the <a href="http://www.njdc.org/">National Jewish Democratic Council</a>, although he <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=10280">felt that American Jews should be active in both political parties</a>. In tribute to his memory, an excerpt from <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=9728">&quot;We Jews in the Democratic Process&quot;</a>, a Bookbinder essay for <a href="http://shma.com"><em>Sh'ma</em></a> from 1989:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In our pluralist society, each group is permitted to advocate and even press its own agenda, but, in the final analysis, it must be able to demonstrate that its interests are compatible with, and dependent upon, the general interest. No groups in America have understood this better than the Jewish community and the labor movement. It has become a political cliche these days to refer to the &quot;powerful Jewish lobby&quot;&mdash;too often carelessly called the &quot;Israel lobby.&quot; I have often said that the Jewish lobby is not as strong as some think, but not nearly as weak as some would like. Jews have interests. We intend to defend them. We do not apologize for whatever strength and influence we have. Tragically, there were times when our strength&mdash;our ability to affect government action &mdash;was not effective enough. We had not yet learned how to use the precious right of advocacy; our people suffered dire consequences as a result. We are determined not to let that happen again...</p>
<p>...So American Jews have developed the skills for mobilizing our community and the general community on behalf of the security of our people &mdash;in Israel, in the Soviet Union, in our own country. But we have never forgotten that we are only six million Jews&mdash;less than 3 percent of all Americans. We must be able to persuade at least another 48% that our case is just, our concerns real, and that America's own ideals and interests are in harmony with ours. Getting this support, I am convinced, is not the job alone of the professional Washington-based Jewish lobby. In a very real sense we must think of the entire Jewish community as that lobby&mdash;the totality of Jewish influence in the country exercised by a wide range of secular and religious institutions, and by individuals publicly recognized as Jewish leaders and spokespersons. And in the larger sense we must think of the allies and the friends the Jewish community has acquired across the land&mdash;the churches, women, labor, civil rights, education, urban affairs and so many other groups in our society. We have won these allies, these friends, in two ways: by educating and appealing to them on the merits of our case, and by demonstrating our interest and commitment to the broader community's agenda.</p>
<p>There are some in our community who argue against involvement in these broader public issues, believing that our immediate Jewish problems require all of our attention and energies and resources. My response has always been that I am proud that over the years we have defined our Jewishness, our Judaism, as a commitment to justice for all people, to peace for all people, to freedom for all people. Such a commitment to universal justice does not short-change our Jewish interest; it is, in fact, the only way to protect such interests. But as a pragmatic lobbyist, if you please, I see this broader activity also as a necessary strategy to establish credibility, to make friends, to win trust. &quot;How can Zionism equal racism,&quot; we want Congressmen and black leaders and journalists to ask themselves, &quot;when Jewish representatives we work with or observe day after day are promoting fair housing and fair employment and fair immigration policies?&quot;</p>
<p>There is no conflict between our great love and great hopes for this blessed land and our deep feelings for Israel and for our Jewishness; not only are such feelings compatible, they are mutally reinforcing.</p>
</blockquote>
democracyisrael advocacyisraelpoliticspluralismreligion and statetributepolicypolitical behaviorgovernmentMon, 25 Jul 2011 11:15:00 -0400http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/7/25/Hyman-Bookbinder-zlThe Anti-Boycott Bill and the Double Standardhttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/7/20/The-AntiBoycott-Bill-and-the-Double-Standard
<p><img border="0" align="middle" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/mouth tape.jpg" alt="Censorship" /></p>
<p>Law Professor Eugene Kontorovich <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=229780">argues in the Jerusalem Post</a> that the outcry against Israel's recent law banning the organization of boycotts is mistaken, and guilty of a double-standard:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There is no universal code of free speech. Determining what gets protection involves trade-offs between the very real harm that speech can cause and the benefit of free expression. Among liberal Western democracies, how that balance is struck varies significantly, depending on legal traditions and circumstances. The United States has far more robust constitutional speech protections than almost any Western country. Most European nations &ndash; and Israel &ndash; have numerous laws criminalizing speech that would not conceivably pass muster under the First Amendment. This does not mean these countries deny freedom of speech; merely that there are competing ideas...</p>
<p>...Great Britain has strong libel laws that prevent people from truthfully condemning public officials. While the law is widely criticized, no one has suggested Britain has thereby lost its democratic status. Critics of Israel&rsquo;s anti-boycott law denounce it as fascist. In Europe, calling others fascist has gotten prominent politicians prosecuted &ndash; prosecutions that have not provoked lectures on free speech from the EU or America&rsquo;s State Department...</p>
<p>...The anti-boycott law prohibits speech intended to cause economic harm to businesses solely because of their national identity. Nondiscrimination laws commonly ban plans to deny business to specified groups of certain national or ethnic origins. Israel&rsquo;s new law bans discrimination against businesses because they are Israeli. Most European states &ndash; and Israel &ndash; have laws prohibiting speech that is perceived as &ldquo;hateful&rdquo; or which simply offends the feelings of particular groups. Often such speech expresses important viewpoints. A boycott of Israel promotes hatred of Israel, and certainly offends the vast majority of Israelis...</p>
<p>...[T]he law has a characteristic crucial for free-speech scrutiny &ndash; it is &ldquo;viewpoint neutral.&rdquo; That is, it applies to boycotts of Israel whether organized by the left wing or the right wing.</p>
<p>Like most European democracies, Israel&rsquo;s constitutional protection of speech has long been narrower than America&rsquo;s. One example is that speech restraints have long been used against right-wing groups. Just recently, a prominent right-wing activist has been prosecuted for &ldquo;insulting a public official,&rdquo; after denouncing those responsible for expelling Jewish families from Gaza in 2005. In recent weeks, police have arrested several rabbis for authoring or endorsing obscure treatises of religious law that discuss (allegedly too leniently) the permissibility of killing enemy civilians in wartime...</p>
<p>...Israel&rsquo;s current practice is clearly well within the limits of an open democracy. Singling out Israel for laws that are identical to, or just as restrictive as, laws on the books in America and Europe manifests the very problem that exists with the boycotts themselves &ndash; the application of an entirely different set of standards to Israel than to the rest of the free world.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Kontorovich makes an extremely compelling case that Israel's new law is completely in line with the range of speech laws exemplified by many democratic countries. I, for one, am convinced that it is completely unfair to claim that Israel is undemocratic for passing this law.</p>
<p>That being said, the law remains a terrible idea. Kontorovich is right that Israel is being held to a risible double standard, but the answer isn't to lower the standard of freedom for Israel, it is to raise the standard of freedom for everyone else. Other democracies with restrictive speech laws, including Europe, Canada and others, should pass new laws permitting the expression of any opinion, even offensive and harmful opinions, because that's the right thing to do. The goal shouldn't be matching precedent, it should be doing what is right.</p>
<p>The dodge of right and wrong by fleeing to precedent is a common pattern when Israel is unfairly singled out (i.e., depressingly frequently): <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?Topic=Anti-Israel-Sentiment&amp;TopicID=378&amp;SortBy=PublicationYear&amp;SortDir=DESC">critics</a> point out something Israel has done wrong, and <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?Topic=Israel-Advocacy&amp;TopicID=88&amp;SortBy=PublicationYear&amp;SortDir=DESC">Israel's defenders</a> immediately shout to the high heavens that every other country does it and nobody ever complains, and that's unfair in a very sinister way.</p>
<p>They're absolutely right: it's monumentally unfair, and often sinister, and the use of the double standard as a stealth weapon in the PR war against Israel must be exposed and combated. That important conversation, however, (the one about fairness and double standards) ought to be <em>separate</em> from conversations about specific criticisms of specific actions. Responding to a specific criticism by pointing to the double standard is a dodge, and a mistake.</p>
<p>When it comes to a specific criticism, the crux of the matter is always this: <em>either the action Israel did was wrong, or it's right.</em> If the action was right, then the double standard is a red herring; respond to criticism by demonstrating that the action was right. If the action was wrong, then the double standard remains a red herring; respond to the criticism by acknowledging that the action was wrong, and figure out how to fix it.</p>
<p>In the case of this anti-boycott law, the idea that the state can stop people from advocating that their fellow citizens use their purchasing power to make a political statement is just wrong, even if that political statement is despicable. If freedom of speech means anything, it means freedom of advocacy.</p>
lawdemocracydiplomacyisrael advocacycivil libertiesisraeldiscoursecivil rightsanti israel sentimentgovernmentWed, 20 Jul 2011 09:10:00 -0400http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/7/20/The-AntiBoycott-Bill-and-the-Double-StandardAmerican Jewish Liberalism, Affiliation, and Denominationhttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/7/5/American-Jewish-Liberalism
<p><img border="0" align="middle" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/obama12.jpg" alt="Obama '12" /></p>
<p><a href="http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/07/05/3088417/gallup-obamas-jewish-approval-unaffected-by-israel-tensions">The JTA reports</a> that President Obama's approval rating among American Jews has remained about 14 points higher than the general public's according to the latest Gallup numbers, despite some public <a href="http://bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=11700">disagreement and distrust</a> between the Administration and Israel's government.</p>
<p>This may come as something of a surprise to many Jews who feel, based on anecdotal evidence or personal experience, that the Jewish community is becoming more conservative, or at least more trusting of conservatives when it comes to Israel. Dr. Steven Windmueller<a href="http://bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=11183"> conducted a survey earlier this year</a> of some 2,300 Jewish respondents, finding &quot;a distinctive Jewish conservative voice emerging on Israel-related matters and an array of domestic social issues.&quot; He also noted <strong>&quot;that among highly engaged Jews, those who are active within Jewish religious and communal life,</strong> there is a sharp divide on political attitudes and policies.&quot;</p>
<p>The emphasis is mine, and it brings up an important factor to keep in mind when bandying about anecdotal evidence among committed and connected Jews: the &quot;feel&quot; of where the community is among strongly affiliated Jews is not accurately going to reflect American Jewry as a whole, because a large portion of American Jewry is not in the rooms we're getting the &quot;feel&quot; for. (Of course, anecdotal evidence is always the weakest kind of evidence, if it can even be called evidence at all.)</p>
<p>Marc Tracy, <a href="http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/71647/new-poll-finds-%E2%80%981967%E2%80%99-speech-had-no-impact/">reacting to the Gallup news</a>, points to a different distinction as one of the more interesting angles to this story:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&nbsp;About half of one group of Jewish voters has approved of Obama over the past three months, while more than one third of the same group disapproved of him; more than two-third of another group of Jewish voters has approved of Obama over the past three months, while only one quarter of this group disapproved of him. The two groups? The former, who are not as bullish on Obama, attend synagogue weekly or nearly weekly; the latter, who do still like the president by and large, attend synagogue rarely or never. The observance gap, to my mind, is the more fascinating dynamic.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Tracy is right to highlight the interplay of the religious and political spectra as deserving more attention, but I might caution him against assuming that observance per se is the critical factor. A reminder is in order regarding the findings of my esteemed boss Steven M. Cohen, along with Sam Abrams and Judith Veinstein, in <a href="http://bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=2444">their 2008 study of American Jewish political opinion</a>. <strong>&quot;[T]he truly significant gap,&quot; they found, &quot;is the one that separates Orthodox Jews from all other Jews.&quot;</strong> Orthodoxy is closely correlated with observance, but as a not-insignificant number of ritually observant Conservative, Conservadox, Reconstructionist, trans-denominational, and even Reform Jews will tell you, the two are not synonymous.</p>
<p>Importantly, the Cohen/Abrams/Veinstein study broke down political preference not only by denomination, but by sub-groupings within denomination based on the proportion of respondents' friends who were Jewish. The result, at least to me, is partially counterintuitive:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Among Orthodox Jews, those whose close friends are all Jewish, almost universally support McCain over Obama (90% vs. 10%), far more than those with mostly, or even fewer, Jewish close friends (60% McCain vs. 40% Obama). However, the impact of having many Jewish friends is the reverse for the non-Orthodox. Among the vast majority of Jews who are not Orthodox, having more Jewish friends is associated with greater support for Obama (and less support for McCain). Support for Obama grows from 68% among those with mostly non-Jewish friends to 77% for those with mostly Jewish friends. In similar fashion, it grows from 68% among those with non-denominational identity (&ldquo;just Jewish,&rdquo; &ldquo;secular,&rdquo; etc.) to 77% among those who identify as Reform.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Tribal insularity, it seems, has opposite effects within Orthodoxy and non-Orthodoxy! For the Orthodox, the further isolated one is from non-Jewish attachment, the more conservatively one votes, while for the non-Orthodox, insularity tends to perpetuate the liberal politics which have dominated American Jewry since Franklin Roosevelt.</p>
<p>Another helpful reminder from this 2008 study is that Israel is not the one and only issue that concerns American Jewry. &quot;Jews do care about the Israel-Palestine conflict more than other Americans,&quot; write Cohen, Abrams and Veinstein:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Yet, with that said, the Israel issue ranked 8th out of 15 issues in importance as a presidential election consideration for Jewish respondents. Aside from the economy (a prime issue of concern for the vast majority of respondents), ahead of Israel on Jewish voters&rsquo; minds were such matters as health care, gas prices and energy, taxes, and education. Ranking just below Israel in importance for Jewish respondents were appointments to the Supreme Court and the environment. In fact, when asked to name their top three issues, just 15% of Jewish respondents chose Israel as one of the three, and these were heavily Orthodox Jews.</p>
</blockquote>
denominationsdemocracyconservatismorthodox judaismisrael advocacyisrael attachmentisraeldemographicsliberalismreligion and statepolitical behaviorvaluesgovernmentTue, 05 Jul 2011 16:01:00 -0400http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/7/5/American-Jewish-LiberalismYom Yerushalayim / Jerusalem Dayhttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/6/1/Yom-Yerushalayim--Jerusalem-Day
<p><img border="0" align="middle" alt="Jerusalem" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/jerusalem3.jpg" /></p>
<p>Happy <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_Day">Yom Yerushalayim!</a> On this day in 1967, Israel captured and reunited Jerusalem during the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-Day_War">Six-Day War</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;Here are just a few of <a href="http://search.bjpa.org/search?client=default_frontend&amp;output=xml_no_dtd&amp;proxystylesheet=default_frontend&amp;filter=0&amp;getfields=*&amp;q=Jerusalem">many</a> BJPA publications having to do with Jerusalem:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=10693"><strong>Is Jerusalem a Part of Christian Dogma?</strong></a> (Karl Rahner, 1971) A Catholic theologian, responds in <a href="http://www.shma.com">Sh'ma</a> to Eugene Borowitz's question as to whether or not Catholic theology has a problem with Jewish sovereignty over Jerusalem.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=3643"><strong>Maintaining Pluralism in Jerusalem: Some Modest But Extremely Important Steps</strong></a> (Daniel J. Elazar, 1988)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=6855"><strong>Heed the Words: Next Year in Jerusalem</strong></a> (Shimon Felix, 2003) The Diaspora is over, argues Felix, and Jews should take &quot;next year in Jerusalem&quot; quite literally.</li>
<li><strong>The entire </strong><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=11116"><strong>May 2000 issue of Sh'ma</strong></a> was devoted to Jerusalem. Among the issue's <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/results.cfm?PublicationName=Sh%27ma%3A%20A%20Journal%20of%20Jewish%20Responsibility&amp;VolumeIssue=Vol%2E30%2Fno%2E572">articles</a> are these:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=7742">Jerusalem: A Shared Solution </a>(Daoud <a href="http://www.daoudkuttab.com/">Kuttab</a>)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=7749">Contested Cities and the Fallacy of Unilateralism</a> (Scott A. <a href="http://socialecology.uci.edu/faculty/bollens/">Bollens</a>)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=7747">Rethinking Jerusalem </a>(Danny <a href="http://peacenow.org/entries/daniel_seidemann_bio">Seidemann</a>)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=7746">An American Jewish Perspective </a>(Carolyn <a href="http://www.conferenceofpresidents.org/">Greene</a>)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=7745">Share Jerusalem</a> (Jerome M. <a href="http://www.peacelobby.org/JeromeMSegalPresident.htm">Segal</a>)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=7744">Jerusalem: The Final Status Talks</a> (Joseph <a href="http://www.bitterlemons.net/">Alpher</a>)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=7743">Jerusalem Forever</a> (Haim <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haim_Ramon">Ramon</a>)</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
diplomacyjewish-christian relationsholidayszionismdiaspora relationsisrael advocacyArab-Israeli RelationsisraelhistoryIsraeli-Palestinian conflictpluralismwarpeacereligionJewish-Islamic relationsWed, 01 Jun 2011 09:00:00 -0400http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/6/1/Yom-Yerushalayim--Jerusalem-Day1967 Borders, and How to Lie With Mapshttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/5/23/1967-Borders-and-How-to-Lie-With-Maps
<p><img border="0" align="left" alt="Israel, sans Green Line" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/israel.jpg" /></p>
<p>As Jews in America, Israel and elsewhere continue to mull over President Obama's <a href="http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/video-of-obamas-middle-east-speech/">Middle East speech</a> last Thursday, and his subsequent <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/05/22/transcript-of-obamas-remarks-to-aipac/">explanation at the AIPAC conference</a>, &quot;1967 borders&quot; have become the topic du jour.</p>
<p>In 2008, Hannah Weitzer of <a href="http://www.win-peace.org/">Windows-Channels for Communication</a> observed <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=6321">in Sh'ma</a> that Diaspora Jews are accustomed to looking at maps of Israel which do not mark the Palestinian territories, or the &quot;Green Line&quot; that represents the 1967 border. &quot;Drawing in the internationally recognized border between Israel proper and the occupied territories is not a quick fix for all of the issues surrounding Israel education,&quot; she writes. &quot;But teaching with maps that lack the green line is indicative of a larger gap between fact and myth that runs rampant in teaching Israel to Diaspora Jews.&quot;</p>
<p>But if a map without the Green Line is deceptive, might not a map featuring a hard, solid, 1967-style Green Line be equally deceptive? In the <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=10859">same issue of Sh'ma</a>, history professor Derek J. Penslar <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=6322">cautions against oversimplification in cartography:</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>&quot;I have a colleague at the University of Toronto who teaches a course called 'How to Lie With Maps.' Supporters of Israel might well suggest as required reading for this course Palestinian maps that show a unitary Palestine from the Mediterranean to the Jordan with no sign of Israel&rsquo;s existence. Yet Israeli maps, and those produced by and for Diaspora Jews, rarely mark the Green Line that constitutes the country&rsquo;s internationally recognized borders.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yet is the answer simply to replace one simplistic map with another simplistic map?</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&quot;The best way... would be through maps that faithfully depict the constant presence of Jews and Arabs in the same landscape... Superimposing maps would display the geographic structure and distribution of each community along with the points of intersection between them.&quot;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Penslar's chief concern is diachronic -- he wants to help people to understand the development of Arab and Jewish populations in Israel/Palestine over time. But I think his point is even more interesting if taken synchronically -- as a model for looking at the present moment. The reality of Jewish settlement blocs, along with Arab-majority population centers in Israel proper, makes the prospect of a neat and tidy border along the Green Line completely untenable. Besides which, the Green Line was not set in stone or decided upon by any kind of treaty or decree -- it's basically a cease-fire line marking troop positions during a pause (lasting from 1949 until 1967) in a war that started in 1948 and has never actually ended. President Obama, of course, recognizes this, which is why he included the phrase &quot;mutually-agreed swaps&quot; in his speech.</p>
<p>In any case, Penslar's point at its core is that a simple map is a deceptive map, and I think perhaps observers of all but the most extreme positions can agree with that.</p>
<p><img border="0" align="middle" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/green line.png" alt="Complexity" /></p>
diplomacydemocracydiscoursezionismdiaspora relationsisrael advocacyArab-Israeli RelationsisraeldemographicsleadershippeaceIsraeli-Palestinian conflictpolicyMon, 23 May 2011 12:50:00 -0400http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/5/23/1967-Borders-and-How-to-Lie-With-MapsFrom the J-Vault: An American Zionist Vision from 1948http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/5/10/From-the-JVault-An-American-Zionist-Vision-from-1948
<p><img border="0" align="middle" alt="J-Vault logo" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/jvault_web_logo.JPG" /></p>
<p><strong>This week from the J-Vault: <a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=6104"><em>Implications of the New Developments in Palestine for Jewish Culture</em></a> </strong>(September 1948)</p>
<p>Today Israelis, Jews, and Zionists all over the world (both Jewish and non-Jewish) celebrate <em>Yom Haatzmaut</em>, Israel's Independence Day, and this week's J-Vault selection was published in the <a href="http://www.jcsana.org/articlenav.php?id=15">Journal of Jewish Communal&nbsp;Service</a> in September 1948 during a cease-fire between the second and third phases of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Arab%E2%80%93Israeli_War">Israel's War of Independence</a>. In the midst of that uneasy lull in battle, which would yield to open war again one month later, Alexander M. Dushkin focused not on the immediate military, diplomatic or humanitarian situation of the newly declared State, but on the place of that new State in the wider scheme of Jewish history and culture, as well as in Diaspora life -- particularly in America.</p>
<p>&quot;My thesis,&quot; wrote Dushkin, &quot;is that the reconstituted Jewish Homeland&mdash;both in the State of Israel and in international Jerusalem&mdash; will have a three-fold effect on Jewish cultural development in America. It should help us (a) clarify the character of our culture; (b) change our attitude toward it and (c) enhance our own cultural creativity.&quot; The result, he predicted, would be that world Jewry will assume a new overall shape. &quot;Our Jewish world of today and tomorrow is like a great ellipse with two foci&mdash;one focus is in ourselves, in American life and effort; the other is in the Hebraic cultural center in the new Palestine. Culturally, they are both necessary to each other, and their spiritual symbiosis is our grand task in the days ahead.&quot;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bjpa.org/Publications/details.cfm?PublicationID=6104">Read more...</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><img border="0" align="middle" src="http://www.bjpa.org/blog/images/lock.JPG" style="width: 123px; height: 108px;" alt="J-Vault logo" /></p>
israel advocacyJ-Vaultisraelisrael attachmentpeoplehoodhistoryholidaysdiaspora relationszionismcultureTue, 10 May 2011 08:55:00 -0400http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/5/10/From-the-JVault-An-American-Zionist-Vision-from-1948Cohen's Comments: Birthright & J Streethttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/2/4/Video-Cohens-Comments
<p>This week, Birthright Israel rejected J Street's bid to operate its own Birthright trip presenting Israel from a progressive viewpoint. (See <a href="http://www.newvoices.org/campus?id=0105">this article.</a>)</p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AARPIGJSXU">the first installment</a> of a BJPA original video series we're calling <strong>Cohen's Comments</strong>, BJPA Director Prof. Steven M. Cohen says Birthright is wrong not only for rejecting J Street in particular, but for its stance on the broader question of operating trips which present particular values and perspectives. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AARPIGJSXU">Watch the video!</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2AARPIGJSXU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
bjpaisrael advocacyisrael attachmentdiversitypluralismdiaspora relationsvaluespolitical behaviorFri, 04 Feb 2011 10:40:00 -0400http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2011/2/4/Video-Cohens-Comments"Resisting Re-ghettoization" Recaphttp://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2010/11/5/Resisting-Reghettoization-Recap
<p><a href="http://wagner.nyu.edu/students/blog/">Wagner Today</a>, the student blog of NYU Wagner, provides <a href="http://wagner.nyu.edu/students/blog/2010/11/lunch-with-yossi-klein-halevi.html">a useful summary</a> of yesterday's BJPA roundtable (&quot;Resisting Re-ghettoization: From Without and Within&quot;) with journalist Yossi Klein Halevi:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The great post-Holocaust achievements were power and integration into the world community (and for American Jewry, the public space). Now both those achievements are under assault -- from without and from within. The legitimacy of Jewish power is questioned not only by the UN Human Rights Council, but also by increasing numbers of Jews. The integration of Jews into the world community is also under assault from without and within -- the diplomatic ghettoization of Israel, the growing power of the haredim and the religious right in Israel.</p>
<p>He emphasized that we need to re-commit the American Jewish-Israeli relationship to reaffirming Jewish power and the Jewish place in the community of nations. This means resisting the demonization from without -- and strengthening Jewish pluralism, especially religious pluralism in Israel.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="http://wagner.nyu.edu/students/blog/2010/11/lunch-with-yossi-klein-halevi.html">Click here for their full summary, with a few pictures.</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.tabletmag.com/">Tablet Magazine</a> also covered the event.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Here came, for me, the most useful part of the conversation, because I got to see, in Halevi, something I had heretofore only read about: The widespread Israeli understanding of the 2005 unilateral withdrawal from all the Gaza settlements and a few in the West Bank as a complete disaster, which must never be repeated. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want Netanyahu to give anything away for free,&rdquo; Halevi insisted, his voice carrying a harsh undercurrent for the only time that afternoon. The problem with extending the freeze for nothing in return, he said, is that the last time the settlements were put on hold&mdash;indeed, they were eliminated&mdash;in exchange for nothing, there were rockets; and then there was an attempt to stop the rockets; and then there was a near-total absence of international support for stopping the rockets; and then there was the Goldstone Report.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Read Marc Tracy's excellent overview of and commentary on the roundtable: <a href="http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/49689/resisting-%E2%80%98re-ghettoization%E2%80%99/?utm_source=rss&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=resisting-%E2%80%98re-ghettoization%E2%80%99">Resisting &lsquo;Re-Ghettoization&rsquo;</a></p>
bjpaisrael advocacydiscourseIsraeli-Palestinian conflictpluralismdiaspora relationsanti israel sentimentzionismholocaustpolicyFri, 05 Nov 2010 11:45:00 -0400http://www.bjpa.org/blog/index.cfm/2010/11/5/Resisting-Reghettoization-Recap